


His Master's Voice

by misura



Category: Quarters - Tanya Huff
Genre: Background Slash, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 17:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13439571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Bannon gets a little stupid. Otavas takes it upon himself to help. (post-TQS)





	His Master's Voice

_Why me?_

Not that Otavas didn't know. While there might be plenty of people who viewed Bannon as a friend, very few of them were people Bannon would actually listen to.

_Stubborn young fool._ Less young and foolish than when Otavas had first met him, of course. He rather doubted _that_ Bannon would have let anyone get close enough to him to be considered a friend, let alone return the feeling.

Then again, Otavas knew that he'd gone through some substantial changes himself since coming to Shkoder. He still wasn't sure if that was due to Shkoder itself or simply due to the fact that he'd fallen in love.

_Speaking of which._ "Bannon."

Bannon looked wary, which probably meant Otavas wasn't the first to approach him. "Your Highness."

_I guess that we'll both just have to settle for me being the last._

Otavas summoned a smile. It wasn't hard, when he remembered how close he'd coming to losing Bannon in truth. "I've missed you."

Bannon's expression turned guilty, which hadn't exactly been Otavas's intention.

Adding: "These past few days, I mean," might not do anything to mitigate the damage, but by the time Otavas considered that, the words had already come out.

_So much for my skills as a politician and a diplomat._ Not that Bannon was in need of either.

Right now, what Bannon needed was a friend, and Otavas intended to provide him with one.

"I didn't want to disturb the current arrangements, considering - " Bannon bit his lip.

_Considering you might shortly be resigning your position._ A nice, sensible, practical reason, which no person could possibly find fault with.

Otavas kept his smile firmly in place. "I understand," he said.

Bannon gave him a sharp look, then relaxed slightly. Otavas felt like he had just passed a test - which was accurate enough, he suspected.

"So what's bothering you, then?" he asked. "Is it really such a bad thing to realize that you have fallen in love?" _Has it really taken you this long to figure that out?_ Otavas had thought that Bannon had more or less come to terms with his own feelings the moment he had left on the rescue mission.

_Perhaps a little less than more._ There was, after all, somewhat of a difference between riding to someone's rescue and building a life with them.

It wouldn't have helped that the Benedikt who had come home was a good deal different from the Benedikt who had set sail. Bannon had changed slowly, shedding his former life as an Imperial assassin little by little. Benedikt - _changed because he didn't have a choice._ It couldn't have helped that Bannon had not been there for most of it.

From a certain point of view, it was a miracle that the one thing that had not changed were Bannon's feelings for Benedikt. _To say nothing of Benedikt's for Bannon._ Without the latter, time might have eventually worn away the former; as it was, Otavas felt obliged to make an effort to ensure the two of them would at least get a chance at happiness.

Bannon sighed. "When I left, I thought that if there was going to be any rescuing or killing, it would be me doing it. I thought - "

_You thought he needed you to protect him._

The Imperial army had trained Bannon as a killer. His new position in Otavas's household had turned him into a protector, a guardian.

_Ah._

"You thought that it would be the way it had been with your sister," Otavas said. "She, too, always needed you to save her, did she not? To keep her out of trouble?"

Bannon's hands were halfway to his knives before he aborted the movement.

Otavas swallowed. He had never been afraid of Bannon before. He told himself there was no reason to start now. _I guess some instincts just take a very long time to die down._

"It's not the same."

_Well, at least you thought about it._ "Granted. For one thing, you were never in love with your sister." He'd meant for it to be a joke, something to ease the tension.

Judging by Bannon's body language, he hadn't exactly succeeded.

"For another, she wasn't a Bard." Better, perhaps, to steer the conversation away from Vree. "My point is, the two of you were partners. It wasn't a matter of one of you needing the other - it was a matter of both of you needing each other."

"So what would he slaughtering need me for, then?" Bannon snapped. "If _he's_ the one doing the rescuing and the killing _and_ the singing and all that other Bardic stuff, what does that leave for _me_? Two things I thought I was good for, better at than anyone." Bannon shook his head. "Partners? I'm not that much of an idiot."

_Actually ..._ Otavas shook his head, discarding the thought. It wouldn't help. Nor would pointing out that Benedikt would likely never kill again.

"People may need each other simply because they do, you know," he said. "Because they are more together than they are apart. That's what love is all about."

"In any joining, both people bring something to the table," Bannon said stubbornly.

"So you plan to resign as my bodyguard and just ... pine away?" The mental image was too ridiculous for words. "Well, I suppose you might inspire a couple of new songs that way."

"My life's ambition realized at last." Bannon scowled.

Otavas realized he was grinning - the mental image of a pining Bannon, slinking around the palace was _really_ persistent, for all that it was also utterly unlikely. "Have you at least talked to him?" Otavas couldn't imagine Benedikt having much patience for this sort of nonsense. "I hear the two of you spent a lot of time together on the voyage back."

Bannon shrugged. "We didn't spend a lot of time talking."

_Right. So having sex with him is fine, but actually starting a relationship is not?_ "If you're tired of his company, why not just admit it? You wouldn't be the first person to mistake protectiveness for something deeper and longer-lasting. There's no shame in it, provided you're honest with both him and yourself."

Bannon's hands came closer to his knives than last time. Otavas wondered if he secretly harbored a death wish. _If so, surely there are easier ways to indulge than poking at an ex-assassin's feelings._

"Go," he said gently. "Talk to him. Try to keep your clothes on, at least for a while."

Bannon muttered something that sounded like 'easier said than done'.

_You came to terms with the fact that you stopped being the center of your sister's universe. You'll come to terms with this, too._ Otavas watched Bannon stalk away, trying to feel only satisfaction at having helped a friend, rather than a certain sadness at having lost one.

_Hopefully, before killing someone._


End file.
